Astronauts Battle Glitches to Move Space Station's Observation Deck

The International Space Station's new viewport, a seven-window chamber called the Cupola, is seen on the station's robotic arm while being relocated to the Earth-facing port of Tranquility on Feb. 14 and 15, 2010 during NASA's STS-130 shuttle mission.Credit: NASA TV

Astronauts moved a
brand-new observation deck to its final destination on the International Space
Station late Sunday despite jammed bolts and other glitches that threatened
their work.

Three bolts jammed at
different times while astronauts tried to relocate the space
observation deck to its final perch on the bottom of a brand-new room
called Tranquility.

After some tweaks
from Mission Control, the astronauts got past the jammed bolts only to find
another malfunction. The petal-like capture mechanism securing the observation
deck, known as the Cupola, to the outboard end of the new Tranquility
module was stuck too.

The glitches were time-consuming
but ended in a ?very sweet victory,? said shuttle flight director Kwatsi Alibaruho.

?It was a hard-fought
victory to be sure,? he added.

NASA packed the
1.6-ton window unit for launch by attaching it to the outboard end of the
station?s new Tranquility module, which is a nearly 24-foot (7-meter) long room
that is about the size of a small bus. Both new additions for the space station
were delivered by NASA?s shuttle Endeavour last week.

After more delays,
Mission Control sent up a new procedure that solved the glitch, allowing
astronauts to pluck the lookout dome free using the space station?s huge robotic
arm and started its short move.

?And Houston, good
news. We?re complete,? station commander Jeff Williams said after the last fix
was in place.

The observation deck
is a $27.2 million lookout dome lined with seven windows ? including the
largest space window ever built. Space station astronauts have been eagerly
awaiting its arrival because it promises to give them unprecedented panoramic
views of Earth and space.

?It will give us a
big view in a lot of directions,? Endeavour shuttle pilot Terry Virts explained
Sunday while answering questions from schoolchildren.

The glitches delayed
the relocation job in space by more than an hour. It was finally attached at
1:25 a.m. EST (0625 GMT), with the astronauts keeping
a close eye on a loose wire on the dome to make sure it didn?t hamper efforts
to reattach it.

Mission managers said
the bolts likely jammed because of a mix of the forces imparted by the space
station?s robotic arm and the fact that they were tightened more than expected
when they were installed back on Earth.

The Cupola is nearly
10 feet (3 meters) wide at its base and 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep. Its main viewport
is a huge 31-inch (80-cm) round window mounted in the center. Six smaller
windows are arranged around it like flower petals.

NASA almost had to
call off the Cupola?s move earlier in the mission because some bolts were
blocking a vital insulation cover to protect the end of the Tranquility module
from exposure
to space.

Station astronauts
managed to remove those bolts and install the fabric cover on Tranquility,
allowing for Sunday night?s move. The $382 million Tranquility module is
attached to the left side of the space station?s central Unity node.

The end of
Tranquility won?t be empty for long. Endeavour and station
astronauts plan to move an old docking adapter there late Monday night.

The Tranquility
module and Cupola lookout were built in Italy for NASA by the European Space
Agency. They are NASA?s last major pieces for the $100 billion space station,
which has been under construction since 1998.

Even with the Cupola
in place on the bottom of the Tranquility module, the 11 astronauts will have
to wait until later this week to take their first look out its viewports.

The Cupola windows
are all covered by protective shutters, which astronauts plan to unlock late
Tuesday during the last spacewalk of Endeavour?s mission.

Endeavour?s 14-day
mission is the first of NASA?s five final shuttle flights planned before the
space agency retires its three-orbiter fleet later this year.

The shuttle launched
Feb. 8 and will stay linked to the space station until Friday. Endeavour and
its crew are due to land in Florida on Feb. 21.

SPACE.com is
providing complete coverage of Endeavour's STS-130 mission to the International
Space Station with Managing Editor Tariq Malik and Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz
based in New York. Click here for shuttle
mission updates and a link to NASA TV.